Had a lovely day on Monday with one of my crazy students. I don't think she will mind me calling her crazy. Merenia Gillies is a very talented Sydney based singer/songwriter who runs music classes for refugees and women affected by domestic violence out at Penrith.
I went along to conduct a voice workshop with a group of women on Monday.
Merenia had been working with this group to create an original composition, not an easy undertaking! But with her down to earth approach, Merenia had managed to unite this group of unlikely friends. She told me she had encouraged the women to all contribute lyrics and melody ideas and the result of a number of weeks work was surprising.
I really had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the community centre out in Penrith after driving for what seemed like ages down that monotonous highway. On meeting everyone however I quickly saw what my job was going to be. It was to get the women to really 'SING'.They had written this potentially amazing song with uplifting lyrics and now all they had to do was sing it without inhibition, with the energy and strength that the song spoke of.
Some of these women had had unthinkable life stories of hardship and abuse, yet were standing there ready to listen to a skinny white gal like me.
To my surprise it really didn't take long at all to get these women dancing and singing with true conviction.Frowns and crossed arms were replaced with open smiling faces. We had one principal soloist who led the group in a call and answer type chorus. She was a powerhouse of voice and emotion and the group began to respond with equal intensity which gave me goose bumps!
It made me think about how we can be such 'winge-ie pants' about things that really don't matter. It made me think about how the smallest things can sometimes get us down and how we easily allow these feelings to re-enforce negative self belief and a cynical view of the world.
Yet here I met this group of women who having suffered a great deal more than I can comprehend were not sitting around wallowing in self pity. They were standing up, fearlessly claiming their ground and singing out about their love for life.
I left Penrith, of all places, feeling almost hyperactive with optimism!
It was one of the most rewarding things I have done in ages!
L
Friday, November 27, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Love and the voice
So I was thinking...empathising with a student, contemplating what a huge effect your love life can have on your voice!
Has this really ever been discussed seriously? I mean it is pretty obvious that without love or loss there wouldn't be much playing on the radio? Not many people write songs about rising interest rates or asylum seekers (well some people do but they aren't usually playing on mainstream radio)! And it is not news that love has been the motivation for millions of compositions. But what what about the actual effect that love has on the voice?
Suddenly we have no high notes, suddenly our voices are hoarse and down in our boots. Or suddenly we can float through an aria effortlessly, our high C is mind blowing!
Could it be true that a bad love life or a tormented emotional state is bad for a singer and that a good relationship is highly recommended for vocal health?
But I do see it a lot. A student comes in, voice is in a mess, student has left boyfriend or vice versa. Student has shed so many tears that her/his sinuses are all clogged up and when she/he speaks I could have sworn they were doing a drag queen impersonation.
Now this is serious stuff!
I do recall myself meeting a fetching young fellow in Spain and flying to Kazakstan to pursue a love story that I believed had to be lived out...only to end up with my fragile heart in pieces.
And my voice? My high notes? My headspace? Out the window!
An unsettled emotional state unhitches the vocal wagon from the horse and the voice ends up cascading down the proverbial hill and landing in the creek! This is surely not a good thing before a concert or a competition.
Ok on a positive note, sometimes unhitching the wagon ( I'm still on about the wagon) can produce a raw type of abandon which can be amazing and relates back to the discussion we had in an earlier blog.
So what can we learn from this rather long winded contemplation on love and the voice?
DO NOT drop someone, get dropped or have an affair on the eve of a concert, performance or singing competition.
DO continue and pursue love that is nurturing, exciting and uplifting!
But as we singers all know very well...if that dark, mysterious, attractive someone turns up, concert or no concert, we will be in hot pursuit.
Because the moral of the story is that we are all passionate, impetuous beings despite our best intentions and strongest resolutions. Yes singers, we were born this way!
Has this really ever been discussed seriously? I mean it is pretty obvious that without love or loss there wouldn't be much playing on the radio? Not many people write songs about rising interest rates or asylum seekers (well some people do but they aren't usually playing on mainstream radio)! And it is not news that love has been the motivation for millions of compositions. But what what about the actual effect that love has on the voice?
Suddenly we have no high notes, suddenly our voices are hoarse and down in our boots. Or suddenly we can float through an aria effortlessly, our high C is mind blowing!
Could it be true that a bad love life or a tormented emotional state is bad for a singer and that a good relationship is highly recommended for vocal health?
But I do see it a lot. A student comes in, voice is in a mess, student has left boyfriend or vice versa. Student has shed so many tears that her/his sinuses are all clogged up and when she/he speaks I could have sworn they were doing a drag queen impersonation.
Now this is serious stuff!
I do recall myself meeting a fetching young fellow in Spain and flying to Kazakstan to pursue a love story that I believed had to be lived out...only to end up with my fragile heart in pieces.
And my voice? My high notes? My headspace? Out the window!
An unsettled emotional state unhitches the vocal wagon from the horse and the voice ends up cascading down the proverbial hill and landing in the creek! This is surely not a good thing before a concert or a competition.
Ok on a positive note, sometimes unhitching the wagon ( I'm still on about the wagon) can produce a raw type of abandon which can be amazing and relates back to the discussion we had in an earlier blog.
So what can we learn from this rather long winded contemplation on love and the voice?
DO NOT drop someone, get dropped or have an affair on the eve of a concert, performance or singing competition.
DO continue and pursue love that is nurturing, exciting and uplifting!
But as we singers all know very well...if that dark, mysterious, attractive someone turns up, concert or no concert, we will be in hot pursuit.
Because the moral of the story is that we are all passionate, impetuous beings despite our best intentions and strongest resolutions. Yes singers, we were born this way!
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